Mixels Wiki:Creative Corner/The Mixels Show
The Mixels Show is an animated television series based upon the characters of the Mixels franchise and is the franchise's main contribution to the animation renaissance of the late 1980's and early 1990's. The show featured a number of comedic educational segments that covered many of the primary educational subjects, often involving a Mix or a Max. When considering the the large cast of Mixels (54 at the time), The Mixels Show was a variety show itself. While the show had no set format, the majority of episodes were composed of three short mini-episodes. The Mixels Show first aired on Fox Kids from 1993 to 1995 and new episodes later appeared on The WB from 1995 to 1999 as part of it's Kids' WB programming block. 27 episodes were made, along with [[Mixels Wiki:Creative Corner/Mixels (1997 film)|a theatrical film titled Mixels]]. Reruns of the show have aired on Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons and Teletoon Retro. Episodes Each episode was given umbrella titles by Warner Bros. Animation for easier identification, and these umbrella titles were used in the video releases and in various television listings. The shorts also had titles, but in many cases, the umbrella title was not among them. The VHS releases each had title cards with the umbrella titles, which featured static images relating to the episode or umbrella title against a two-tone background of various changing bright, flashy colors in typical 1990's fashion -- these were not in the original broadcasts. For example, the Frosticon Follies title card's static image was that of the Frosticons preparing to Max with each other with a rainbow Cubit. Season One (1993) Season Two (1995) Season Three (1999) Response The Mixels Show became very successful with both child and adult fans, including many older adults who themselves watched the original network run of the original series in their childhoods. Ratings and popularity The Mixels Show, along with other animated series, helped to bring Fox Kids ratings much larger than those of the channel's competitors. In November 1993, The Mixels Show, ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', and ''Animaniacs'' almost doubled the ratings of their rival shows, Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop, in both the 2-11 and 6-11 demographics that are very important to children's networks. On Kids' WB, The Mixels Show gathered about onemillion childrens every week. Adults also responded positively to The Mixels Show; in 1995, more than one-fifth of the show's audience viewers were 25 years or older. The large adult fanbase even led to one of the first internet-based fandom cultures. During the show's prime, the website themixelsshowfansite.com (an early version of this site), and the newsgroup alt.tv.mixels were an active gathering place for fans of the show (mos of whom were adults) to post reference guides, fan fiction (in an early prototype of this site's Creative Corner section) and fanmade artwork relating to The Mixels Show. The series gained high ratings under disadvantageous circumstances. During November 1993, KDAF, then the Fox affiliate for Dallas, Texas, had a three-day transmitter failure, resulting in a blank screen instead of The Mixels Show: during this period, about ten thousand homes were tuned to KDAF during The Mixels Show timeslot, which was almost double the ratings of the Saturday morning cartoons of the rival channels. At one point in summer 1995, The Mixels Show was so popular on WBNX-TV (it was then airing the Fox Kids block in lieu of the then-new Fox affiliate WJW-TV) in Cleveland, Ohio, that many airings even garnered ten times more viewers than the second-place title-holder there, The Weekend Exchange on WEWS-TV, and even caused WBNX to gain the promotional on-air slogan "Where Cleveland Calls Planet Mixel Home." History Fox Kids era: Episodes 1-13 The Mixels Show premiered on September 18, 1993, on the Fox Kids programming block of the Fox network, and ran there until September 2, 1995; new episodes aired during the fall 1993 season. Fox ordered exactly 13 season-one episodes. While on Fox Kids, The Mixels Show gained fame for it's name and the characters featured and the franchise it was based off of and became the third-most popular show among the 2-11 and 6-11 demographics, behind Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Animaniacs (both of which began on that same network that same year). ''Codename Special'' continued during that period, but was now produced as part of The Mixels Show. New episodes were aired on Fox Kids until episode 13; Fox then ordered no more new episodes. After Fox Kids aired The Mixels Show reruns for over a year and a half, The Mixels Show switched to the new Warner Bros. children's programming block, Kids' WB. Kids' WB era: Episodes 14-27 Additional episodes were ordered after the first season. The Mixels Show premiered on the new Kids' WB line up on September 9, 1995; and the following Saturday, September 16, a new five-episode season premiered. While on Kids' WB, The Mixels Show gathered about one million children viewers every week. However, the only reason The Mixels Show continued to remain popular by this point was through an unintended way, bringing in adult viewers and viewers outside the Kids' WB target demographic of young children. This unintended result resulted in tension between the staff of The Mixels Show and the staff of the WB network and advertisers. On May 30, 1997, a theatrical movie based on the show, ''Mixels'', was released. Despite the tension, however, one more nine-episode season was ordered in 1998 and premiered on October 17 of that year. Finally, in 1999, The Mixels Show was cancelled by the WB, led by executive Jamie Kellner, who has also been held responsible for the cancellations of Animaniacs, Freakazoid! and Pinky and the Brain. The 27th and final The Mixels Show episode was aired on May 22, 1999. Aftermath and syndication After The Mixels Show, Warner Bros. Animation continued to produce several more animated comedy series before ending most production on those shows when it was forced to cut back on it's animation studio staff after Histeria! went over it's budget. The Mixels Show continued to rerun in syndication through the late 1990's into the early 2000's after production of new episodes ceased. In the US, The Mixels Show aired on Cartoon Network, originally as a one-off airing on January 31, 1997, and then on the regular schedule from August 31, 1998 until the spring of 2001, when Nickelodeon bought the rights to air the series beginning on September 1, 2001. Nickelodeon transferred the series to it's newly launched sister channel Nicktoons on May 1, 2002, and aired there until July 7, 2005. The Mixels Show started airing on Boomerang with a 4-hour marathon on January 1, 2011 and aired regularly from February 2, 2011 until Boomerang's relaunch in January 2015. Voice Cast *Carlos Alazraqui - Mesmo, Torts *Jess Harnell - Burnard, Meltus, Shuff, Vulk, Zaptor *Harold Ramis - Dribbal, Flain, Gurggle, Kraw, Slumbo, Tentro, Teslo *Matt Taylor - Glomp, Hoogi *Sigourney Weaver - Scorpi *Frank Welker - Chilbo, Flamzer, Flurr, Footi, Glurt, Jawg, King Nixel, Krader, Krog, Magnifo, Major Nixel, Nixels, Slusho, Snoof, Volectro, Wizwuz, Zorch *Billy West - Balk, Gobba, Lunk Gallery Main article: The Mixels Show/Gallery UNDER CONSTRUCTION!